Silkworm Missile Post
Tactical Analysis *'Worms Armageddon':The Silkworm is a Blue Chinese artillery emplacement. Capable of launching guided surface to surface missiles against advancing enemies from far away, it serves as the Nationalist's strategic artillery. Unlike the most of the National Revolutionary Army's equipment, it is a locally produced design. *'Rain of Death': The missiles are able to track targets thanks to their wire guidance system, and the oversized cluster warheads rain high explosive bomblets which pulverise soldiers and blast holes in armour. Their ridiculously long range also meant that it is possible to target enemies from BVR, making it literally, a bolt from the blue. *'Beware of angry birds': Despite its formidable firepower, the Silkworm has no way to deal with aircraft. Its thin armor and need to deploy to fire adds to its vulnerability to birds and means that a single Helix could destroy an entire squadron in a few minutes. *'Scorched Earth': Atomic weapons are a rarity, and where an atomic warhead is found, it is typically salvaged in short order by whichever warlord happens to be nearest. Such warheads, mounted on Silkworm missiles, can prove truly devastating weapons, capable of decimating entire strongholds with a single hit. History Before the Bombs In the early 1960s, Red Chinese vessels constantly patrolled the South China Sea, blockading Blue Chinese controlled ports and cutting off coastal cities. Unlike Blue China's pathetic navy, which was comprised of a few torpedo boats and a couple of minesweepers and the flagship, the destroyer Feng Huang, Red China's navy was anything but weak. They had multiple destroyers, and even three cruisers. Although lacking any battleships, they were more than a match for Blue China. Most notably, in 1962, the Red Chinese navy blockaded and then bombarded Tsingtao, nearly leveling the city. To counter this naval threat, the Blue Chinese responded with the HYN-1G Silkworm. Designed to be an anti-ship weapon, it was reverse engineered from captured V2 Launchers used by Red China early in the war, and outfitted with additional strap on boosters. This gave the Silkworm BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capabilities, and a 900 kg warhead meant that it could sink a Manta Ekranoplan in a single shot. Missile guidance systems copied from Allied gifted weaponry also gave the Silkworm phenomenal accuracy, sealing the fate for many smaller vessels who thought they could simply avoid the missile. The potency of the warheads guaranteed that even the smallest NRA-held coastal village had at least one Silkworm post stationed there, and soon the mention of the missiles made even the PLA Marine Corps shudder with fear. After the Bombs In the wake of the Chinese nuclear exchange, the Red Chinese navy was all but destroyed, rendering the Silkworm virtually useless. However, a large number of Silkworms, having been stored in warehouses, somehow managed to escape destruction. Intact warehouses were among the first targets for scavengers, scouring the ruin that was once China for whatever they could find. Many have come into these warehouses, to be disappointed that their only loot consisted of stockpiles of these massive missiles. Survivors interested only in survival had no intrest for them, and neither did bandits, who had no use for weapons so large. The Silkworm missiles came to the interest of the many petty warlords, who sought them out. Stockpiles of Silkworms were taken from their warehouses, in order to be stockpiled in some warlord's bunker complex. However, while deterred some other warlords from attacking, the hoards of Silkworm missiles were of not all that much use, having been designed for use from naval warships and not land. They languished away in underground bunkers, soon forgotten as the warlords turned their attention to other things. One warlord had come up with an ingenious idea -- mount the rocket boosters on a simple launch platform that could be quickly set up, the useless guidance systems and anti ship warheads dispensed with, and have other, more suitable warheads installed. Despite the splintered state of communications throughout China, other warlords soon heard of the new weapon, and attempts at replication quickly followed. Crude launch platforms were designed, and in short order bombardment campaigns had started all over China. Many warheads were tried, experimented with, and used. While the most common consists of a simple warhead stuffed with grenades and high explosives to make an improvised cluster warhead, many other warheads -- more horrifying and more deadly -- have been devised. From warheads containing JADE fragments and warheads with dead corpses stuffed inside them to even the rare atomic warhead, all manner of ordnance, distasteful or unorthodox, has been devised for the Silkworm, to be used by one petty warlord against another. Category:Units